Saturday, May 15, 2010

Simply Organic and Fresh Meat

Seen at the Satok Sunday Market are these coconut shoots - a kilo costs Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 4.00

At the Satok Sunday market I bumped into two food items- coconut shoots and freshwater clams. Can these two be married? A little imagination would help. Today I'd very much like to try something organic plus fresh meat. Coconuts shoots like the ones above are easily available at Satok. These are freshly cut shoots from tall coconut trees that are plenty around Kuching especially the rural surroundings where they are grown commercially in plantations. Locally these shoots are termed "Umbut".

When old trees are cut, the farmers collect the shoots and bring them to market. In their spare time they may gather clams from mangrove swamps closeby. These big size clams ( Polymesodaerosa) are referred to as " Lokan" in Malay, and are available anytime of the year and sold cheaply at the Sunday market (see inset).

Here's how I would attempt to be imaginative.

Firstly, boil the cut pieces of coconut shoots with other herbs like lemon grass, garlic and chillies for about 10 minutes. Add a half-teaspoonful of salt. In the meantime, get ready the live clams because they come in next. There's a tiny problem. The clams are very difficult to open. Here's a cute trick. Boil them to induce the shells to open up and this process takes less than a minute. How come cooking is so easy?

In boiling water the clam's shell open up effortlessly. Next separate the clam's flesh from the shell with the help of pincers. Put them aside for the next big show in town.

Drop in the clam's flesh into the boiled coconut shoots and continue boiling for another five minutes and no more to avoid the flesh becoming hard and the shoots too soft." Waduh !" ( local exclamation similar to Hola ! OMG!) When served hot, the aroma of the herbs combined with the sweet tasting coconut shoots and oyster-like freshwater clams make the formula truly organic and fresh. I love sipping the soup and Oh! so delicious.